Mulder, Scully, and the Sea
by lulamae-golightly
Summary: Highschool AU. A look into Mulder and Scully's life as teenagers.


**A/N: A very shippy AU fic. :) This was an idea someone gave me a long time ago, when I was writing "Partners in Crime". Their prompt was: "** **A bit younger Scully brings her boyfriend home for the first time, and William Scully is not so amused."**

 **This more or less follows it (so it's AU - Mulder + Scully are both in high school), and if anyone's interested, maybe I'll write a full length high school AU fic.**

 **The X-Files doesn't belong to me.**

"Hey, Spooky," The tiny redhead appears beside Fox Mulder's locker after the dismissal bell. "Are we still on for tonight?"

The seventeen year-old boy slams his locker and slings his backpack over his shoulder. "Unfortunately," he replies.

She gives him a look. "It won't be as bad as you think."

"Oh, so you're suddenly excited about this now?" he asks.

She sighs. "No, I'm not excited, but I'm trying to be positive about it. My parents want to meet you - that's all it is. Just have dinner with us and then we can do homework." He givers her a hopeful look on 'do homework' - when they plan to study, it usually becomes a lot more. "Don't get too excited about that," she says when she noticed his wide eyes. He pouts comically, which always gets her to smile. "Walk home with me, Mulder." she slips her hand in his and they make their way down the hallway.

They're quiet about their relationship at school. When they got together at the start of junior year, they didn't tell _anyone,_ but she eventually had to crack and tell her parents that Mulder and her had been out so much lately because they were on dates. Her mother was overjoyed; her father, not so much. Bill had threatened to beat Mulder up, Missy told him to back off, and Charles just made gagging noises and said dating was gross.

Now months have passed, and Maggie Scully became insistent about meeting Dana's 'boyfriend'. "You've met him before," Dana protested.

"I know, but it seems more...important now."

"We need to lay down some ground rules with him." Bill had said. His daughter had fought not to roll her eyes. So she obliged her parents and invited Mulder over for dinner at her house that Friday. He agreed, but only because she had said it only had to be this once.

"Hey, you look really nice today, by the way." he says as they begin the journey to Scully's.

She can't help the girlish smile that spreads across her face. "Thanks. You're not so bad looking yourself." He grins and glances down at the pavement, almost shyly.

"You're a good one. I like you," he stops to lean down and kiss her cheek.

"Was it a good day?"

"It was okay. I'm happy it's Friday. We should go down to the ocean tomorrow." Since Dana had moved down to California at the beginning of sophomore year, her favorite place became the ocean as well as Mulder's.

She nods. "I like that idea."

"I do have some pretty great ones," he nudges her as they approach the navy base. She punches in a special number to open the gates, rolling her eyes at him. They make their way to the Scully residence and stop in front of the door.

"Okay, I'm just gonna warn you now. My family is kind of...all over the place."

He chuckles. "I've met them Scully."

"I know you have. But it's different now that we're...we're..."

"Us?"

She smiles. "Yeah. It's different now that we're us. But don't pay too much attention to them."

He suddenly looks uneasy. "I dunno, your brother is..."

"Yeah, I know. But Bill makes a lot of empty threats." she assures him. "It'll be fine."

"I hope so." he replies as she open the doors and calls, "We're home!"

Her mother instantly comes to greet her, smiling when she sees her daughter and Fox's hands clasped together. "Fox, so nice to see you!" she exclaims, giving the boy a hug. William Scully enters the room, looking more skeptical than anything else.

"Good afternoon, sir." Mulder stammers nervously.

"So, you're my daughter's boyfriend."

"Um, yes." he replies.

He nods, saying nothing more. Maggie sees how red his face is, how nervous he looks, and feels bad for him. "Dinner isn't quite ready yet, but you two feel free to hang around."

"We're gonna go do homework upstairs," Scully says, seeing the instant hesitation on her mother's face.

"Keep the door open," her father says sternly.

"I will, dad," she tries hard not to sigh. She and Mulder descend up the stairs to her room, throwing their things on the bedroom floor. They sit on the floor, facing each other. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asks.

"The way your dad was looking at me...it's like I was the devil or something."

She laughs. "He likes you. He's just scared because I'm not ten anymore." she pulls out her French homework while he retrieves his German. "I told you, don't worry."

"I'm trying." he replies. "Right now, I'm just happy to be with you."

She scoots a little closer to him. "Me, too." she glances down at his homework. "Say something to me in German."

" _Ich liebe dich,"_ he leans in close, their foreheads touching.

"Lame," she teases. He closes the space between them in a chase kiss.

" _Ich liebe dich,"_ he repeats, kissing her playfully, pushing the textbooks aside. She kisses him back, his cheeks and his jawline and his forehead then back to his lips, giggling all the way. She cups his cheek in her hand.

"Ew, mom!" she hears the annoying voice of her brother Charlie in the doorway. "Fox and Dana are kissing!" the redhead pulls away from him and groans as she hears her mom thunder up the stairs.

"Dana?" she asks.

"We're doing homework, mom," she replies.

"Charlie, leave them alone, please." Maggie scolds. "You two are just doing homework?"

"Yes," Dana replies, trying to keep the edge out of her voice. "We're fine."

"Alright then," her mother says warily, then leaves them alone to lecture Charlie.

Dana sighs. "I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay. He's a little kid." Mulder replies. They continue to do their homework, occasionally stealing a kiss. Maggie soon calls them down for dinner and Mulder tenses up again.

"It won't be so bad," she chuckles.

"I know, just...your big brother's here, right?"

"Should be."

"He hates me," Mulder pales.

"It's okay. Mom won't let him do anything." she says, taking his hand as they walk down the stairs. "You all know him, but this is Fox if you for some reason forgot," Dana introduces him as they sit down.

"Dana," her mother scolds.

"So you're dating now?" Bill asks.

Fox only nods, stabbing at his salad. "Do you not say grace at your house?" Charles asks.

"Wh-what?"

"We say grace before we eat here," Bill retorts.

"Boys," Maggie warns.

"Oh," Mulder says with a mouth full of lettuce. "I'm sorry. D-do we...?"

"Just bow your head and close your eyes," Dana whispers. He nods and does as she tells him to. William Scully says a typical prayer, one Mulder tries not to groan at. Dana takes his hand under the table and squeezes it.

" _Now_ you can eat," Charlie says. Maggie chastises him for the millionth time. Missy's been silent this whole time, watching with slight amusement.

"How are you, Fox?" she asks, and he loves her then; she has to be the only member of the Scully family who hasn't given him a weird look or said something that sounds slightly judgmental.

"I'm okay, how are you?" he asks.

"I'm pretty good. How's school?"

"It's alright. You're in college right?"

"Yeah, but I'm on spring break. I'm glad I'm back; I wanted to meet my baby sister's boyfriend." she gives Dana a wink. "I'd say she made a good choice."

Yup. Yeah. He loves Missy. "Well...I try," he chuckles.

"What do you want to do for a career, Fox?" William asks.

"I'd really like to be a psychologist." he replies with as much confidence as he can muster.

"So a shrink." Bill says.

"Uh. I guess?" he picks at the spaghetti.

Bill mutters something about 'weird' under his breath and Scully glares at him again. "I think that's really cool, Fox," Melissa declares.

He thanks her, shyly smiling. "What's a shrink?" Charlie asks.

"Someone who listens to other people whine all day for a job," Bill explains. Missy smacks his arm. Maggie sighs. "Stop, kids." she says firmly.

Scully shakes her head. "I'm so sorry," she whispers.

"Hey, what can you do." he shrugs.

"So, Dana, have you met Fox's parents yet?" William asks.

Now it's her turn to not know what to say. In reality, there has been no formal introduction. Mulder lives only with his mom now; his dad is somewhere out there, and sometimes he gets phone calls from him, in a different city every time. When is mom isn't at work, she's sleeping, watching bad soaps, or hiding in her room and pretending she's not crying about how everything's fallen apart. They exchange maybe on average thirty to fifty words a day.

When he brought Scully over, he introduced her to his mother, who had glazed over eyes as she stared at the TV. "Hey mom, this is Dana Scully, you've met her. She's my girlfriend." She looked away for a split second, nodded and turned away.

"I've met his mom," Scully tells him.

"My parents are divorced," Mulder explains.

"I'm sorry, Fox," Maggie says. "That must be hard on you and your siblings."

He feels trapped all of a sudden. "I don't have any siblings." Maggie's brows furrow.

"Oh," she replies. "None at all?"

"I-I, actually...um..." he stammers. "It's...no, no there aren't any." He hates talking about siblings. They're all giving him weird looks, except Scully, who understands. He feels like he's going to be sick. He thinks he'll get used to thinking about this. But then someone brings up siblings in small talk and even though it's a harmless question, it hurts him. He scratches his arms under the table, something he does when he's nervous.

"Are you okay?" Bill asks.

"I'm fine," Fox replies sharply. He finishes the rest of his dinner quickly, without talking. He knows that anything he says will just sound more awkward. "Thank you for having me over. It was very nice."

"No problem, Fox," Maggie says. "Would you like some ice cream?"

"I have to be getting home, sorry," he says. "Scully, can I grab my stuff out of your room?"

"Sure, let me come..." she trails off as he goes up the stairs without her, grabs his backpack, and gives her a wave as he steps out the door.

"What's up with him?" Bill asks.

"He just has some things he'd rather not talk about." Dana explains.

"Well, how were we supposed to know that?" her father says.

She sighs. "I don't know. He's not usually like that."

"So did he have a sibling die or something?" Charlie asks, insensitively.

"You know what? I still have a lot of homework, and I don't feel like talking about this anymore," Dana declares.

"I'm sorry Dana, but that boy is very strange." William says before she can run up the stairs. "I guess I don't mind if you keep seeing him, but...I'm not quite sure how I feel about it."

"Sorry, dad," she mumbles, then disappears into her room.

About an hour later and halfway through her chemistry worksheet, she hears a knock on the door. "Come in," she says reluctantly. It's either her mom or Missy.

"Starbuck?" it's her dad.

"Hey, Ahab." she replies.

"I've been thinking," he says, sitting on the chair by her window. "Fox is a good boy. A strange boy, but a good one. I remember when we first moved here and he was your friend. Your mother was so thankful for him."

"So where are you going with this?"

"What I'm saying is that tonight wasn't the way any of us wanted it to go, but I probably shouldn't judge your boyfriend based on one bad night." he exhales, then leans back. "I'm sorry, Starbuck."

"Don't be sorry. He's just had a hard past and I want to be there for him."

He stands up and smiles down at his daughter. "That says a lot about you. It says that you're a good friend and you put others before you. I love that about you. I love you; I just can't believe you're so grown up." he lovingly smooths her hair.

She's smiling, but tries to hide it. "Don't get cheesy with me," she chuckles. "I love you, too." he kisses her forehead.

"Goodnight, Starbuck."

She salutes him. "Good sailing, Ahab."

* * *

When Dana finally climbs into bed that night and is close to dozing off, she hears a tap on the window. She disregards it and turns over, but then there's another. And another. She groans and pulls herself out of bed and looks out her window. _Oh, God, what is this? Some teen movie?_ she thinks when she sees that Mulder has been throwing pebbles at her window. She opens the window. "Mulder!" she hisses, trying to keep an annoyed expression on her face. She secretly loves it.

"Hey, Sculls."

"Get up here!" she says, and he climbs up the ladder they put there long ago. "God, at least you didn't hold up a boombox or something."

He chuckles. "Nope, didn't think of that. I wanted apologize for...everything."

She silences him with a kiss. "Shh. It's okay. They know you're a good kid. They like you. I promise."

"I don't care about that, just you."

"Well, you know how I feel about you," she smiles warmly and they kiss again. Climbing onto the bed, Mulder wraps an arm around her as she snuggles into him. They've done this before. They don't usually sneak out. Sometimes they go to the beach or climb the fence to the golf course with their school friends, but really, they'd rather be with each other.

"I just feel like such an idiot," he murmurs into her shoulder. "I can't answer a simple question. I get so anxious about everything."

"It's okay." she promises again. "You're not an idiot. If anyone knows it, it's me."

He holds her even tighter. "You always know what to say, Scully."

"I know," she smirks, turning her head to kiss him. He kisses her back, letting things develop and the kiss gets more heated, more deep, until she places a firm hand on his chest. "Mm, Mulder, we have to stop. I really don't want...y'know. My parents could come in and you know how they get."

"I gotcha. Just sleep, Sculls." he kisses her cheek.

She pouts. "Are you leaving me?"

"No, I'll stay til you fall asleep."

"You better be careful walking back home."

"I live just outside the base, you know that. Don't worry."

"Whatever, I will anyway." she closes her eyes and sighs. "Night, Mulder."

"Night, Scully." he kisses her one more time and she settles into him. Everything is forgotten, all awkward family situations and mocking words from brothers are gone from their mind. All that matters is them.

* * *

He leaves when she's been asleep for awhile. He can't stay. Even if Scully claims her parents like him, he know they wouldn't anymore if they caught him in bed with their daughter - even thought they were just sleeping.

Scully pads downstairs the next morning, after waking up cold. Mulder had left the window open when he left. The smell of cinnamon wafts and cigarette smoke wafts through the kitchen, two smells she instantly associates with her mother. "Good morning, sweetie," Maggie says. No one else is at the table. Scully dishes a bowl of her mother's cinnamon apple oatmeal and sits down at the table, where her mother is already lighting another cigarette.

"Morning. Where's everyone?"

"The boys went out shooting. Do you wanna go shopping today?"

"Uh, I was gonna go down to the ocean."

"By yourself?" she shrugs. "Oh well, maybe another time."

When her mother leaves to take a shower, Scully looks at her smokes, contemplates them, and takes a few cigarettes. She ties her hair up, slips on shoes, and leaves.

The ocean is her home. It is the one constant in her life. When she is not near the sea, she feels like a part of her is lost. Her father promised that they would stay in California until she graduated high school, but she knew he couldn't keep it; he wasn't in charge of where he was located. But for two years, they have lived happily here. She never wants to leave.

Puffing on the cigarette, she watches the steady tide, feeling content and peaceful. She hears footsteps and fears her moment will be ruined by some tourists - she thought she had distanced herself far enough away from them.

"Knew I'd find you," she hears a familiar voice. She turns around and smiles.

"Hey, Spooky."

He takes her cigarette. "What's this?"

She shrugs. "I dunno. It was my mom's. I was curious."

He replies with a, "Hm," and gives it back to her. In silence, they watch the sea, listen to the sounds of children screaming miles away, tourists laughing. But the ocean's roar overpowers it all. She flicks the cigarette and takes his hand. "Hey, Scully?"

"Yeah?"

"It's...us, right? You and me. It'll always be us?"

"Yeah. Us."

That was the closest they had gotten to saying 'I love you'. Somehow, it was more than enough.

 **A/N: This evolved into way more than I was intending, but it is what it is. I hope you enjoyed this. I really like high school Mulder and Scully, maybe I'll write more fics about them sometime.**

 **-Lulamae**


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